World's Most Expensive Watches

If the person you are thinking of this holiday season has been exceptionally good--and by that we mean had a platinum-selling album, brought in a multimillion dollar deal, named you to the board of a major foundation or gave birth to triplets--then they might themselves unwrapping an exceptionally good, and exceptionally expensive, watch this year. While many watchmakers make most of their profits from bread-and-butter product lines--which, at the higher-end levels, tend to retail in the $5,000 range--many of the top-end brands also offer watches that cost well into six figures. These include mechanical men's watches laden with grande complications or ladies' watches dripping with jewels from premier Swiss watchmakers such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Girard-Perregaux and the like. Oh, they're going to cost you--$200,000 per easily, and much, much more if you really want to splurge. But the gift you'll be giving is as timeless, intricate and impressive as they come--even if it ends up under lock and key, as such timepieces tend to do. The creation of very expensive and very intricate watches is a long tradition within the relatively brief history of the industry, which really only got going in the latter half of the 19th century. During World War I wristwatches became popular with military officers and soon watchmakers such as Cartier and Patek Philippe began marketing limited edition and steeply priced models expressly for the connoisseurs' market. And it didn't take long for others to follow.

"Then as now, at the most expensive levels wristwatches are status symbols meant for collectors," says Matthew Morse, editor in chief of WatchTime magazine, who notes that these days any watch retailing for more than $100,000 will likely only be of interest to true aficionados. "Though some watch companies don't make a lot of money off of their highest-end watches because of the cost of research and development, they still produce them to give their brand an ambiance of exclusivity. For people who can afford them, they're about the pleasure of owning something extraordinary, whether or not they ever actually wear them."